Dept: Orang asli was trying to kill tiger, not collect petai

IPOH: The tiger which attacked an orang asli in Sungkai last week did so in retaliation as it had been wounded in a trap laid out by his friends.

Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officers found in their investigation that Yok Meneh, 47, and another orang asli had entered the jungle on Thursday to kill the tiger which was caught in a snare.

“The victim was not there to collect petai. There were no petai trees there,” its director Shabrina Shariff said.

“He and the other man had gone there with spears made from the bemban tree to kill the animal. They were attacked by the injured tiger which had freed itself from the snare,” she said.

Yok Meneh, who suffered a deep 15.2cm wound on his back and other injuries to his hands and legs from fighting the tiger, told the authorities on Saturday that he was attacked while on his way to gather petai at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve.

The next day, Perhilitan officers found the carcass of the tiger about 20m from the site. Its detached left forelimb was still caught in the snare.

According to Shabrina, the orang asli had set up the snare on Jan 25 and the tiger was caught in it on Feb 2.

“On Feb 3, the one responsible for setting up the trap went into the jungle with four other orang asli with shotguns to shoot the tiger.

“They managed to hit the animal in the eye, leg and body and left it to die.On Feb 4, Yok Meneh and another orang asli tried to retrieve the carcass but the tiger was still alive and attacked them,” she said.

After interrogating the orang asli, it was discovered that they had captured and killed other protected animals before.

”One of them admitted that they killed another tiger and a panther before this,” Shabrina said.